


Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh My)

by Hope



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Mathom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-19
Updated: 2008-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-03 13:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hope/pseuds/Hope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Ianto explore the tunnels and disused railway and discover pixies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh My)

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by lj user=semplice.

"I think something just touched my leg," Jack says urgently.

Ianto sighs, silently, inside his head. "Wasn't me, Sir."

"No, seriously... _Something just touched my leg!_"

Ianto sets down his thermos lid carefully and picks up the torch again, flicking it on and angling the beam until Jack's legs are in its trajectory. His trousers are scuffed with dust, but otherwise 'something'-free.

"You just made that up so I'd turn the torch on again," Ianto accuses, tilting the light up to see Jack's face. Jack scrunches his eyes closed and scowls against the sudden brightness. He looks ridiculous.

"Well I told you we should have brought the wind-up one, that doesn't even _need_ batteries--"

"If _someone_ hadn't decided to use the crank on the wind-up torch for such unconventional purposes, then I _would_ have brought it."

Ianto's torch beam catches Jack's arms folding sullenly before he turns it off again. "I didn't make it up," Jack says.

_Whatever_, Ianto mouths to the dark, and picks up his tea again. He swallows the first gulp before he registers the gritty texture of it, clinging to the inside of his mouth no matter how much he rolls his tongue around it to to gather enough for spitting. Not that spitting does much good either.

The torch beam hits his face and he covers his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Your mouth," Jack says. "It's all... _Shiny._"

Ianto ignores him, taking advantage of being able to see and peering into the thermos lid, not exactly reassured by Jack's observation. His tea appears to have been liberally seasoned with "Glitter."

Which it certainly wasn't when he put it _in the thermos_.

"Hey, shiny isn't _bad_, I bet we could make some other things shiny, like if you put your mouth--"

Ianto snatches the torch away, effectively shutting off Jack's ramble like they're on a desert island and Ianto just grabbed the conch. He shines the torch around, bouncing light off the curved walls of the tunnel. For a moment he and Jack both hold their breath, and there's nothing but the sound of dank water dripping in an echoey sort of way somewhere in the distance.

Then there's a high-pitched maniacal giggle, the sharp sound of it hitting the brick and carrying it on long after its brief burst.

Ianto and Jack stare at each other; Ianto can see the whites all around Jack's eyes. Eventually the echoes stop.

"I'm guessing that wasn't you."

**Author's Note:**

> http://hope.dreamwidth.org/1383450.html


End file.
